Politics
British author Jonathan Coe reflects on Brexit, Boris Johnson and the Royal Family
Coe’s latest novel, titled “Bournville,” tackles a family saga, but with a particular focus on the emotional relationship between the British people and the royal family.
The fetishization of the royal family, the cruelty of the confinement, the lack of convictions of Boris Johnson, the shock of the leave vote and the growing disillusionment of the people with the Brexit outcome too. Jonathan Coe has a lot to do.
When I speak with him, I have the same feeling as when reading his books: he always ends up sketching a portrait of British society.
I met the award-winning Middle England author, What a Carve Up! and The House of Sleep in the French city of Lyon, during his tour to promote his latest novel Bournville.
Understanding British society through the books of Jonathan Coe
Like most of his older books, it’s a family saga set after the Thatcher era and Brexit, but this time it highlights another very British peculiarity: people’s emotional relationship with the royal family.
He calls it an obsession, another weird quirk of the British people, which he’s still trying to figure out himself. Even if you weren’t a real monarchist, it was impossible not to share the extraordinary outpouring of public emotion at the Queen’s death, he says.
This woman had been on the throne for 70 years, she had behaved without fail and had earned a lot of respect. Some of those who mourned her still remembered her coronation in 1953, which seemed to be the start of a new era in British life.
Trying to make sense of a divided nation
All of his books, especially since Brexit, are attempts to understand what is happening in Britain, he says.
The result of the referendum was such a shock to many of us. We woke up that morning realizing we were living in a country we didn’t understand. I am delighted if people read and enjoy my books, especially in other countries, but I write them for the very selfish reason of trying to explain things to myself.
Part of the answer belongs to Boris Johnson. Whether or not this is a fictional character remains difficult to determine with certainty, Coe ponders funny in his latest novel.
I do not consider him at all as a convinced politician. I don’t see he believes in anything, but he was the right person to deliver Brexit, he says.
People trusted him because he was ready to laugh at himself and gave the impression, just like Trump, of being outside the political system. And this at a time when many Britons were fed up with politics and politicians.
A “necessary cruelty” with lingering consequences
There is one more thing, which as a writer, Coe wanted to record so that this era would not be forgotten and perhaps allow us to learn from it – Covid.
Mary Lamb, the matriarch at the heart of the Bournville family saga, draws inspiration from her own mother, who died during the pandemic. The lockdown has been extremely cruel for many people, he says. Its psychological and social sequelae are still felt, and remain to be understood, but it was a necessary cruelty. I don’t see what else Europe could have done in the face of a virus, for which we had no vaccine.
My time is up and Coe must now take the stage at the magnificent Théâtre des Clestins, where he is expected by former French Ambassador to the UK, Sylvie Bermann to speak at the 2023 Littrature Festival.
But before saying goodbye, I can’t resist asking him one last question: what will he explore in his next novels, now that Brexit is over and Boris is gone?
British life and British politics will always be full of absurdities. Boris Johnson may be gone, but the current political scene has no shortage of comedic material, he adds reassuringly.
The material is and will always be there.”
Watch the video in the web player above to watch our interview with Jonathan Coe.
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